Table etiquette

Traditionally a Moroccan meal will take place in the family room, the
bayt el-seghir
, at a low, round wooden table surrounded by couches. Nowadays, however, modern urban households often have Western-style dining-rooms. When invited to a reception, the guests are welcomed into a lavishly decorated
living-room
. Food is served in traditional earthenware tajine or couscous dishes. Each guest helps himself from the dish by dipping in the first two fingers and thumb of his right hand directly into the dish. Pieces of bread can be used to mop up sauces or retrieve pieces of meat or vegetables. Eating with one’s fingers can deter foreign travellers though because many Moroccan households are used to foreigners, they often provide cutlery. However, the only occasion on which it is absolutely essential to respect traditional table etiquette is at a
diffa
, a banquet surrounded by a whole series of rituals.

Moroccan specialities

Bread

Bread
is an essential part of any meal, to soak up sauces and pick up food from the communal dish. These round, flat loaves are made from durum wheat, barley or rye flour. The aroma of freshly baked bread wafts fragrantly throughout the medinas, as the women or children pass by with loaves on a wooden tray covered with a cloth.

Starters

Meals often begin with
salads
. Laid out on little plates placed around the main dishes, they remain on the table and are eaten throughout the meal. Each plate is filled with a different speciality: grated carrots with orange, aubergines and courgettes in olive oil
(zaaluk)
, cooked artichokes, peppers and tomatoes, fresh broad beans, couscous, lamb’s brain, cucumber, green beans and lentils. Another familiar starter is
soup
. There are dozens of different kinds, but favourites include mashed or diced vegetables, cracked wheat
(dchicha)
, semolina and aniseed, vermicelli, rice, pasta and gumbo. During the month of Ramadan, the fast is broken with
harira
, a thick soup of meat, beans, lentils, chickpeas and broad beans. It is substantial enough to be eaten as a meal in itself.
Briwats
are another delicious starter, made out of tiny envelopes of thin flaky pastry
(warka)
stuffed with minced beef or lamb and deep-fried. They can be either triangular, round or rectangular in shape. Modern cooks also prepare equally delicious
briwats
of shrimp and vermicelli or cheese and merguez. Finally, it would be a crime not to taste a
pastilla
. This is a flaky pastry envelope stuffed with almonds or hazelnuts (or both), onions, parsley and eggs, to which pigeon, or less often, red meat, fish, poultry or seafood, is added. Delicious!

Main dishes

Most main dishes are meat-based, generally consisting of mutton or lamb. Couscous is one of Morocco’s staple dishes, made from steam-cooked wheat, barley or corn, and served with a stew made from mutton, chicken or beef and vegetables (courgettes, turnips, potatoes, chickpeas). Depending on the region, it will be eaten with the fingers or a spoon. Tajine is Morocco’s most famous dish. It is a meat, poultry or fish stew, cooked very slowly over a charcoal fire in a terracotta tajine dish with one or several vegetables (onions, carrots, artichoke hearts, beans, peas) and / or fruit (prunes, sultanas, preserved lemon) together with a variety of pulses (blanched almonds, pine kernels) and of course all sorts of spices. There are several sorts of tajines, including
mqalli
, cooked in saffron,
mhammar
, cooked in red spices (of Arab origin) and
mjammar
, cooked over charcoal (of Andalucian origin).

Other specialities not to be missed are delicious
brochettes
of
kefta
, spicy meatballs (with cumin or paprika) rolled in breadcrumbs and fried. Kebabs are also very common char-grilled or barbecued and served with a spicy sauce.

The originally Turkish
mashwi
consists of a whole lamb roasted on a spit or in the oven. It is often served on great occasions, such as weddings. It might be seasoned with salt, butter, spices (saffron, paprika, cumin) and will be basted with sauces of coriander and other herbs. In some regions beef, goat, gazelle or chicken
mashwi
might also be served. The Moroccans are also extremely fond of
offal
. Generally prepared for the lamb festival of
Aïd al-Kebir
, it can be fried, steam-cooked or served in sauces.
Chicken
is also popular. This can be prepared in a tajine – chicken with olives and preserved lemons is a classic – or simply roasted.

The Atlantic coast is rich in
fish and seafood
. Stewed, baked or grilled fish can be found in Morocco’s great many seafood restaurants.

Desserts and pastries

The variety and quality of fruit in Morocco is such that most meals end with a dish of fruit or a fruit salad. However, some city folk consider it good form to order an ice-cream gateau to finish off a wedding feast.

The diversity and originality of Morocco’s pastries has yet to achieve recognition abroad, mainly due to the serious competition put up by the well-established export trade of Lebanese and Tunisian pastries. In Morocco mint tea is always served with a range of mouth-watering pastries. The most well known are “cornes de gazelle”
(kaab ghzal)
, made out of almond paste scented with orange blossom water. The
sfenj
is a fried doughnut, similar to the Spanish
churro
, sold on street corners.
Haloua shabbakiya
, a honey cake, and honey
briwats
with almonds are eaten after the filling harira soup during Ramadan.
Ghriyyba
is a biscuit made with butter, semolina, sesame seeds and almonds which melts in the mouth.
Krachel
are small macaroon-shaped biscuits eaten alone or with butter and honey. Made from the same pastry as
krachel
,
faqqas
are small almond cakes to which sultanas are added.
Sellu
, a brown cone of flour and grilled almonds, is extremely nourishing and often prepared during Ramadan or to build up a young mother after she has given birth. A crunchy sweet version of
pastilla with milk(keneffa)
is made from flaky pastry cooked in milk and dusted with ground almonds.
Mhannsha
, made from almond paste, is a long coiled cake slightly resembling a snake, hence its name.

Milk products

Milk curds are made by adding wild artichoke hearts, orange blossom water and sugar to milk. This extremely fresh sort of yoghurt drink is served at the end of meals.
Iben
is buttermilk made in a goatskin
(chkoua)
or a pitcher
(khabia)
. It can be drunk alone or mixed with sweet couscous
(saycouk)
.
Jbane
is a
fromage frais
made from thick curdled milk to which sugar is added. Salted
jbane
can also be found, generally made with goats’ milk.

Spices

In Morocco, the term spices covers medicinal herbs and culinary spices. A complex hierarchy has been developed to classify them according to their rarity and age. The most important are pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and saffron. Coriander, cardamom, cumin and aniseed are among others which were adopted much later. Thyme, marjoram, liquorice and bay are in the bottom category, the “poor man’s spices”.

Freshly ground
black pepper
is used in most dishes.
Cinnamon
is added to pastries and some sweet tajines, such as those with prunes and almonds. Powdered
ginger
is used in sauces. Strands of saffron, prepared from pulverised stamens, are used sparingly in most tajine dishes. Flat-leafed
parsley
and fresh
coriander
seeds perfume a variety of dishes, particularly meat dishes.
Cumin
is often added to
mashwis
and egg dishes.
Paprika
, the powdered form of dried red peppers, adds spice to some tajines,
kefta
(meatballs) and fish.
Ras-el-hanut
(“shopkeeper’s choice”) is a blend of the best spices available such as cloves, ginger, rose buds, cinnamon, capsicum, galangal, mace, aniseed, turmeric, cardamom, garlic, nutmeg and cantharides. It is generally reserved for feasts and banquets.
Nutmeg
is added to white meat and fish dishes;
mace
is added to meatballs.

Drinks

Mint tea

Mint tea is an integral part of any Moroccan’s daily life. It is drunk at all hours of the day, to welcome guests, as an aperitif or an after-dinner drink and even during meals. It is the third token of hospitality, after milk and dates. Tea is generally served with pastries, pancakes (
rghaief
,
baghrir
or
msemmen
), or simply with bread.

Serving tea is a
ceremony
in its own right. Nothing is left to chance and the whole ritual is steeped in symbolism, from the number of glasses to where they are placed on the tray. Tea is prepared by the family’s most dextrous member, in front of the guests and according to ancestral rituals. The chosen one, seated cross-legged on a low seat, first rinses the teapot with boiling water, after the customary
bismillah
. He or she then extracts exactly the right quantity of tea. The green tea leaves are rinsed twice, and the first rinsing water is kept because of its high tea content. The first glass poured out is examined and then poured back into the pot, mint and sugar are then added to the other glasses. The teapot is protected by a veil while the tea brews. To intensify its aroma, the tea is poured from a great height using the right hand, the left hand is of course not used as it is impure. A glass is then handed to an expert for approval. If they are satisfied, the other glasses are filled.

Wines and spirits

Even though alcohol is forbidden in Morocco, as in most Muslim countries, wine is both produced and exported. There are three main wine regions: the first is near Oujda, the second extends from Fès to Meknès and the third from Rabat to Casablanca.
White wines
are generally drunk with fish and seafood (
valpierre
,
chaudsoleil
and
ksar
). Cabernet
reds
, namely
Président
and
Guerrouane
go well with beef and mutton. The
Boulaouane rosé
is delicious but can prove particularly treacherous! Fig alcohol,
mahia
, distilled at 40° is a rough, powerful drink.
Flag pils
or
Flag spéciale
beer is particularly appreciated in the hot summer months.